I’ll give you further study options, reading materials and/or tools in each section, to give you an advantage to starting your blog.

Shall we begin?

Forward: What You’ll Learn

How to lay the foundation for a strong and successful blog

Step One: Your Website

How to set up your website with your own domain, hosting and email provider

Step Two: Setting Up Your Site

Getting the best domain name, installing WordPress and picking a theme that converts visitors to subscribers

Step Three: Creating Content

Defining your audience and deciding what problem you solve for your readers

Step Four: Attracting Traffic

Marketing your content through emails, social media and simple SEO

Step Five: Making Money

The four best ways to monetize your blog

Step Six: Automate and Outsource

Resources, tools and other automation and outsourcing advice

What You’ll Learn

Making money through your blog may sound easy. We’re bombarded by blogs, links and newsletters stating how this person ‘made a six-figure income’ or how that person ‘lives from the income their blog generates’.

Ultimately, the thing you need to remember, however, is that making money with your blog takes hard work, dedication, and patience.

Itwon’t happen overnight.

You need to lay the foundation, build your blog’s scaffolding and furnish it before the money comes in. So here’s what you’ll learn by reading this:

Which hosting service to choose for your blog and finding a mailing list provider.

How to set up your website, including choosing your domain, installing WordPress, choosing a design and installing a theme.

How you go about creating amazing content, defining your audience and providing value.

Sourcing traffic, optimizing your content and email marketing.

How to make money from your content, from your skills, and from your own knowledge.

How to semi-automate the process so you can free up your time.

I’ll be with you every step of the way, offering you my thoughts, insights, and guidance. I’ll be there to urge you on and show you you can do it. It requires some work, like all good things.

Step 1: Your Website

Before you think about what to call your blog, what your topic will be and the kinds of content you’ll be creating, it’s best to consider two key things vital to your success.

Your website host and mailing list provider.

Everything you do in your blogging journey will hang on those two things.

A good web host needs to handle the traffic you’ll be generating. It needs to be fast, easy to use and quick to set up. Forget about pricing for a moment and focus on quality.

Your blog will be a source of income – it needs to be reliable and accessible.

(Please note: a few of these links are affiliates which means I will earn a small commission if you buy the item, with at no extra cost to you.)

Similarly, your mailing list provider needs to be equally reliable.

Many people may say email marketing is dead – this couldn’t be further from the truth. Your mailing list will be a vital source of targeted traffic and monetization, which you can tap into in an instant.

Finding a great provider for your email marketing will make sure you deliver consistent, high-quality results over and over.

Roll easily off the tongue – it needs to be easy to say, to spell and to type

Be memorable – it might be tempting to go for something long and detailed but keep in mind how memorable that will be to your readers. A shorter, snappier URL is much more likely to be remembered.

Reflect your topic – think about what you’re going to be writing about. If it’s about blogging, consider incorporating that word into your URL somewhere. This will make it easier to find and will give readers an idea of what they’re likely to expect.

I use Namecheap to register all of my domains because they give you free “WhoIs” for your first year and it’s very easy to set the name servers (sounds technical, but it’s easy).

Once you’ve bought your domain, you must add it to the hosting package you hosted your website. You should receive an email from your domain provider with instructions on how to point your domain to your host’s servers. These emails are usually to-the-point with clear, step-by-step guides on getting you up and running.

There are many blogging platforms out there to choose from – I list 10 of them here – Where To Start A Blog: 10 Blogging Platforms For First Time Bloggers-however, I’ll always use WordPress.org as my number one choice due to its versatility. Therefore, for this guide that’s what I’ll be working with and we’ll start with installing WordPress onto your website.

Dependent on what hosting provider you use, your WordPress installation should be pretty straightforward. Most hosts these days will offer a one-click install of the WordPress software and will email you instructions on how to do this.

If you settle on using BlueHost for managing your website, here’s a helpful step-by-step guide you can use to get up and running.

Four: Select Your Package & Enter Your Billing Info

Five: Set Up Your Password

Six: Log in and You are now in WordPress

Seven: BlueHost Tools

Eight: Your BlueHost Info

We’re at the really fun stage of your blog creation process here. This part is all about getting the look and feel of your blog just right.

WordPress is incredibly easy to design with and make your own. There are some fabulous websites out there build on the platform that looks amazing. Yet we’re not all creative geniuses, so it’s perfectly okay to buy a theme or pay for someone else to design it for you.

For awesome WordPress themes, you’ve got plenty of options:

StudioPress is a site that deals exclusively with WordPress Themes built for the Genesis Framework. I dare you not to fall in love with these. This is what I use. (check out my Website In A Week, so you have a pro site without DIYing it!)

Plus WordPress.org itself has an archive full of free themes that you can use if you want a basic setup.

To get a theme custom designed or tweaked, consider the following places:

Fiverr – this site is full of talented graphic designers and artists who will take on a project for as little as $5.50

Alternatively, you could look within the marketing and design community for bloggers who offer design services to their readers.

Step 3: Creating Content

When you begin creating content for your blog, the key thing to remember is your audience.

At the very front of your mind should be the people you’re writing this content for. Who are they? What problems do they have? What questions are they asking? What are their pain points?

Only after you know what their problems are, can you provide the solutions.

Craft your content around those problems and then provide a thorough, detailed blog post that covers the solution – how your reader can overcome it.

An example of this in action might be:

A blogger you follow on Twitter is struggling to come up with good headlines for their posts. So you create an article with multiple resources and approaches that the blogger could take to craft punchy, attention-grabbing headlines.

They have the questions – you provide the answers.

But you can’t just go willy-nilly with your content. You need to remember to keep it relevant to your audience. There’s no point writing about blogging if your audience isn’t made up of bloggers.

Which is why you need to define your audience first.

Here are a few ways you can do this:

Create personas of your ideal reader. Flesh it out with everything about this person and use it as a guide.

Research where your ideal reader hangs out online and listen in on their conversations.

Conduct a survey asking your ideal reader what they struggle with and write posts about the answers to their questions.

Step 4: Attracting traffic

Getting traffic to your blog might seem like a futile effort at first. You’re sending your posts out into the ether having put loads of time and effort into making them valuable, yet no one seems to be reading them.

The great news is that the hard work pays off. You just need to have a little patience.

Your hard work at this stage will be in the form of marketing your content. You can do this in several ways but to keep things simple, let’s cover three ways to market your blog posts:

Posting on Social Media

Optimizing for Search Engines

Email Marketing

Posting on Social Media

Social Media has the potential to open up your content to a whole tribe of interested people. With the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, sweeping the world with their massive networking potential, it’s fairly easy to be found and heard.

However, people are sensitive to complete self-promotion, so choose your strategy carefully:

Market on platforms where your audience hangs out the most. If your content is heavy on tutorials and visuals, for example, your best method for social media marketing might be Pinterest or Instagram, since this content does particularly well there

Don’t just bombard followers with links. Choose catchy headlines, include hash tags where relevant and use eye-catching images

Respond to every notification and mention you receive – carry on the conversation and create lasting relationships

Share other people’s content – this will open you up to reciprocal sharing and will put you in front of key influencers

Optimizing for Search Engines

As you publish more and more great content, you’ll notice that you get traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing. They generally call this search traffic or organic traffic because you’re essentially not marketing it – thereaders are finding you instead.

To attract the right kind of readers to your content via the search engines, you’ll need to make sure your articles are optimized properly.

There was a time when this meant stuffing your blog posts full of keywords. Now, however, that’s not necessary. The emphasis is more on quality and value but there are still things you can do to encourage a better performance:

Research keywords using sites like Google Keyword Planner to find out what people are searching for, in relation to your niche

Add your keyword naturally into your post title

Use your keyword sparingly within the body of your post

Place your keyword in the alt title of any images you’re using within that post

Use the keyword in your meta description (while this is no longer a factor in search engine optimization, it’s still useful to do this to prompt readers to click-through)

Email Marketing

I mentioned email marketing at the beginning of this guide as a valuable source of traffic. Growing your email list can be as simple as adding an opt-in form to key areas on your blog such as your sidebar, across the top of your blog, after posts and as a pop-up.

You might like to send your subscribers a weekly roundup of your best performing posts. Alternatively, send an email every time you update. Whatever you decide, remember that people are inviting you into their Inbox out of choice, so treat your subscribers as you would like to be treated yourself.

Keep it personal by talking about your targeted readers’ problem(s)

Don’t just list out what they’ll read, show them how they’ll enjoy reading. What problem will it solve for them?

Invite conversation by asking your list to get in touch if they have any problems

Encourage users to unsubscribe. It might seem counter-intuitive, but inviting people to opt-out of your list, will make sure the people left there will be the ones most interested in what you have to say.

With these key marketing strategies in place, you’ll soon see your traffic increasing. Remember, consistency is the key, regardless of how many times a week you post. Pick a day and time to post – a frequency you’re comfortable with (and I recommend just once a week) and consistently publish at those times.

The key with affiliate programs is to just promote products you would endorse and actually use yourself. This gives you context and authenticity when you recommend them to your readers.

Don’t just promote just any old thing. Keep it relevant to your audience, your blog, and your existing content.

Product Creation

Product creation is the process by which you develop and sell your own products. It can be a highly lucrative form of monetization since you’ll be marketing your products to an audience that’s already interested in what you have to say. Further to this, they’ll be your own products – there’s no middleman taking an affiliate fee.

Here are a few ideas for products you could create:

eBooks – many bloggers use eBooks as a way of selling information. They can be published to Kindle, made available for many devices and can be as detailed or as simple as you like.

Videos – create video tutorials and show your readers how to solve a problem they have.

Courses – a course is a complete information package that promises to teach a “how-to” subject. Bloggers can make large sums of money creating and selling their own courses, it simply takes time and enthusiasm to get the ball rolling.

Again, keep your products relevant to your audience and your content to generate the best results.

Freelancing

Do you have a unique set of skills or experience that you could sell to other bloggers and members of the public? If so, this is another great way to use the power of your blog to make money.

Think of your blog as a broadcasting platform – every new reader is another potential client. When you think like this, doors will open and new possibilities and opportunities will present themselves.

Step 6: Automation and outsourcing

We’ve nearly reached the end of this guide. I hope so far you’ve found it useful, however, there’s one last thing I want to talk about before signing off. It’s how to automate some of your blogging responsibilities to save time.

Because running your own authority blog is a lot of work!

It’s also time-consuming – something you might struggle with if you have other responsibilities such as a family and a full-time job.

The good news is, there are ways you can make blogging and monetization much easier.

Outsource your content writing – hire a ghostwriter to create some of your content to free up some of your time. The work will be in your own name and a good ghostwriter will tailor the voice of anything they create to fit with your own branding

Outsource your marketing – get a Social Media Manager in to watch and look after your social accounts. A few hours saved each day from content marketing is a surprisingly good amount of time to do something more important

Use tools like Hootsuite to automate your Social Media broadcasts

Use Evernote (my favorite tool) to jot down your ideas for blog posts as they come to you

Here are some articles on outsourcing and automating that will help you:

That's for the suggestions (I'll look into GetResponse) and warnings. It's good for people to see that things are possible with the right guidance. It was also important to point out that it takes hard work.

I have to agree with everyone else, wow, what a cool resource you've provided.

I remember reading posts like this a long time ago but they weren't very detailed. Most of what they shared was over my head because I was new and I didn't understand a lot of the terminology. But a step-by-step guide from someone eager to help, well you just can't beat that my friend.

Really great share, thanks for putting this together and this is really going to be very helpful for a lot of new bloggers. Great job Sue.

You give an excellent breakdown to help someone build a solid foundation to build off of.

I like how you continue to mention that this will not be easy. I was speaking to someone earlier about how there is so much content out there that says, 'just do this' or 'just do that' and you can get more traffic or make money online.

That is far from the case.

It takes a lot of work and dedication to begin building your blog to where you want it to be.

While you've certainly laid out the mechanics of what needs to be done! Thank goodness you are also advocating that it does take time (like anything else) to get all your ducks in row.

Both you and your audience are in a constant state of evolving! and real skills to time to develop as well. But as you pointed out, with some dedication and a little elbow grease, it's possible to make your dreams happen!

What a superbly structured Blog post. How I wish I had so mush of vital information available to me when I started Blogging. It would have saved me a ton of time and the seat of my pants would not have been so worn (that's how I learned to Blog :-).

I've been using and recommending BlueHost myself for a pretty long time. Excellent hosting company and a really responsive Help desk. I've normally got my tech issues sorted in under four hours each time I raised one. I think that is some kind of a record among hosting companies.

This is the very first time I've heard of – Get Response – have been a long time user of MailChimp myself. Clicked the link and took a quick look at the Get Response website though.

I've (almost by default now) used WordPress as the Blogging platform of choice. I love its simplicity and the plethora of excellent plugins available that can extend the WP core functionality. Its really a superb, Free to use, Content Management System. The best being its (almost) one click installation and ease of use.

This Blog post is so well structured and full of prime content I'm definitely sharing this on my Twitter account and I will mention it on my Facebook timeline. I do believe that it should be as widely shared as possible. Most of my friends will benefit from going through this Blog post.

The structure and form of all of your posts inspire me. I have typically been of the short/quick post variety, but the effect your long, instructive posts have on me, is convincing me that my readers would probably really appreciate the information presented this way.

Thanks for a marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it, you are a great author.I will make
certain to bookmark your blog and will come back. Have a nice day!loss effect recently posted loss effect

Hi Sue Anne. I am new in blogging and but really want to grow my blog through both the right and helpful content.
Your article is really worthwhile to read. I am feeling like I have got Aladdin's lamp in my hand. Thanks for such convenient writing.

That is indeed a good read. However, main issue with newbies with these type of articles is that they are pumped up after reading this type of article and they get impression that they will start earning. The patience is the key. I think famous blogger like you should really highlight (even make it in bold and on top of the post) those points – patience, promote, quality over quantity.Joydeep Dam recently posted Top 10 Most Popular And Money Making Blogs – Making More Than 100,000 USD Each Month

I totally know what you mean, but I believe that someone selling coaching or freelancing services can make money in several months – as soon as they have 200 people on their list. Building an audience takes time but I have had clients start making money in 2-3 months time.

Patience and promotion is important but it depends on what you sell and how you sell it.

Hi this is the best guide for beginners for learn how to start online blogging in easy way by beginning to ending step by step explanation by using wordpress platform thank you so much for your efforts for this article, its really helpful for us. Also you can read build a new blog using blogger blogspotRahul Zajari recently posted Best Beginners Guide to Start Online Blogging in Blogger

Thank you so much for a wonderful tutorial on all that I need to know to become a great Blogger. The info is down to earth, there was nothing which one could assume that things would just happen by flicking the finger or pressing a button, you continued to stress that it will be hard work. There is certainly a lot to learn, but following the steps in the correct order will ensure that I don't bite off more than I can chew.

I hope to be able to send you my first picture quote along with my Blog soon.

Great article. Its good to read such article.Great! Starting a blog can be a solid way to make long-term income – just for doing some writing on stuff you actually like and care about. But there’s a little more to it than that AND it may not be for everyone. This is not a get rich quick, or plug and play, business. If that’s what you’re looking for, this is not the place for you. BlogPress: How To Start A BlogYes, you can make a lot of money online but, like other traditional businesses, it’s not guaranteed. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not being truthful. The amount of money that you make online from your blog is 100% dependent on you and your efforts.

Great blogger tutorial for beginners. This is really a fantastic post. As a new joiner in the industry, never have I ever thought I would learn so much in one comprehensive post. Lots of great points to consider in 2016. I was looking for a nice, easy to read and informative guide. This is exactly what I was looking for. I’ve used blogger during first years in blogging. Now I am using wordpress and I am loving it. Thanks for creating this useful guide. I look forward to checking some of your other posts.

Awesome post, thanks so much for sharing! I’m 46 and a 2x breast cancer survivor, just starting to blog. Hoping to reach and inspire others, “you can get your sexy back after breast cancer!Ashley Jones recently posted Christmas Gift Ideas for Her [Best Collection Forever]

Very Informative as always.
No doubt about Affiliate Marketing is good way to earn online money but two things are very important in it.
1st is niche and 2nd content (related content with affiliate product or services).

Thank you for giving me the confidence of the clear path to achieving my goal, this post is really a worthy and about how to start a blog and make money you have explained in a stage, yes! I followed the same procedure and complete my Task.

Based on my experience, the hardest part is not creating a blog as because we can easily find step-by-step on the Internet to help us do that, even teach us how to write codes to customize the blog. The hardest part is to find ideas, create articles and drive traffic to your blog. We have to learn a lot and do ourselves experiments to get experience and do better in the next time.Tony recently posted How to Start A Blog – Step by Step Guide

A effective website is well proved way to earn more and more money. But it requires well set of skills to furnish blog post. Domain name should be related to keywords that people search for on Google. We should always try to choose domain like which is not a subject of complex, it should be simple so that people can easily access.

Fiverr connects small business owners, entrepreneurs, and start-ups with thousands of quality graphic designers, copywriters, video editors and much more with just a few taps. And it makes your work effective and simple. Thanks for sharing these valuable tips with us.

That is a brilliant post. This post has everything a newbie want to know. Above all, the writing is so smooth. A great writing always gives pleasure like Music.

If a newbie is reading this, I want to say that, Content Marketing is very important that you can do by sharing your content on FB, Twitter and there are 100+ social sharing sites but you don't need to share it on all the sites. Initially, you have to share but don't forget to record the response of each of them. At the end, you have 10-12 sites from which you would get your audience.

Hey Sue. That's some great advice. I too use Fiverr for logo and graphic design. Cheap and highly effective. I have additionally found that adding graphics to blogposts becomes easy with Fiverr at hand and sometimes they have those buy $15 and get $5 back offers.

Leaving that aside, I agree 100% on the product creation part.

Product creation can be a great source of passive income and is my favorite form of monetization. You need not depend on a third party website that can ban your account. Relying on just your email list and a great product minimizes the risk and maximizes the potential for revenue and growth.

Good stuff! I believe the hardest thing about starting a blog is creating content. Once you get started it's like where do you go from here. Sometimes I waste hours to think about what am I going to write about. It's good to be able to read bloggers such as yourself to have a greater sense of direction as a newbie.Fritz recently posted How To Start A Mommy Blog?

This is a great post!. I really like the step-by-step instructions you listed here. Anyone who wants to start a blog must keep these steps in mind to have a successful blog . Thanks for sharing! ?Learn2BlogOnline recently posted TOP 10 Indian Bloggers of 2017 & Their Blogging Earnings

You just reminded me of how much work I have to do! I'm just glad that this time around I actually know what to expect. I read on another blog a very good tip for bloggers to remember to do: Take a deep breath! Doing this prior to working for a few hours helps me prepare and when I need a break or start to feel overwhelmed, taking a deep breath keeps me sane.

Starting a blog is easy but starting a blog that attracts more audience and makes more money is quite difficult as it requires more efforts and time and when these tips are followed accordingly, nobody can stop you from achieving good results.

In my Opinion there are plenty of sites by using it we can start our own blog ,we all know about Google AdSense, it’s a tremendous effective way to earn money through our blog, but there is a catch in it, you must have significant number of traffic, then only it will provide you a healthy amount of money.

I find your post here very helpful and informative Sue Anne. I try to get more traffic to my site and the content you provide here seem inspired me enough. I will try more with your tips. Cheer!Chhaom recently posted Top 7 Best Growler Cooler reviews in 2017

Great article, Sue!i read it fully and felt worth reading it. Really it is very important to know audience before creating content.great share, thanks for putting this together and this is really going to be very helpful for a lot of new bloggers.viren recently posted How To Install Kodi On Roku || Jailbreak Roku

Interesting post. Making money on the Internet is very interesting topic. I've heard about affiliate marketing for a long time, but I still did not risk trying it out. After reading your article, I realized that it's time to take a chance. Thank you for the inspiration